Guard Donkeys

Didn't realize the dog problem was so severe out in the Warwick area:

DARLING Downs grazier Bruce McLeish and his wife Angela turned to "guard donkeys" after losing 400 sheep worth $110,000 to wild dogs in 2007.

As well as shooting, trapping and baiting the dogs, the McLeishes – who run 4500 sheep on Warahgai, near Karara in the traprock country west of Warwick – got the donkey idea after hearing about a Toowoomba woman who ran free-range poultry with a donkey and found a fox which had been kicked to death.

"There seemed to be some link so I went to the internet and found Canadians were using donkeys to protect sheep and cattle from coyotes and wolves," he said.

It was a decision which paid off, with Mr McLeish estimating he may have lost only eight sheep in the past 12 months instead of the usual 200 or so.

"The donkeys lash out at anything that they see as a threat and most importantly they can handle a pack of dogs, not just one," Mr McLeish said.

...He admitted some people thought they were "crackers" but said their 13 Australian and Irish donkeys bonded easily with the sheep, ate the same food and one could protect about 400 head.